ONLINE EDUCATION
PowerSchool | June 02, 2023
PowerSchool today announced Maryvit Education Center (MEC) in Chonburi, Thailand has expanded its use of PowerSchool Schoology Learning, a key component of the PowerSchool Personalized Learning Cloud, to support K-10 students at its new campus, which opened in May 2023. With MEC’s newest campus open for the 2023-24 school year, MEC teachers will have access to intuitive tools to improve student performance, collaboration, parental and family engagement, and standards tracking.
“PowerSchool Schoology Learning played a pivotal role in our operations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, so selecting the platform to support our new campus’ operations only made sense,” said Dr. Steven Kitikiatisak, President, Maryvit Education Center. “Schoology Learning and our PowerSchool support team have proven they can help us create better learning outcomes for our students and staff. We look forward to leveraging Schoology Learning at our newest campus in the upcoming academic year.”
Since its integration across the MEC network, Schoology Learning has helped its educators effectively manage course and material distribution. Notably, the platform helped MEC improve its hybrid learning infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers were able to leverage the learning management system to create digital learning curriculums and games that increased students’ participation while remote. More broadly, Schoology also helped MEC increase parent-teacher-student communications and overall visibility into students’ progress and learning.
Further, MEC teachers predominantly teach and create all their Schoology Learning content in Thai. They launched custom Schoology Learning user guides in Thai via a YouTube channel, to support students and their fellow educators.
Maryvit Education Center is a private Catholic school network located within the Chonburi Province of Thailand. MEC provides more than 10,000 students a Thai-focused learning curriculum with an added emphasis on English and Chinese studies. The school network operates across three different campuses within the cities of Pattaya, Sattahip, and Bowin, and opened a new campus in Nikhom Pattana, Rayong in May 2023.
About PowerSchool
PowerSchoolis the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments and analytics in one unified platform. PowerSchool supports over 50 million students globally and more than 15,000 customers, including more than 90 of the top 100 districts by student enrollment in the United States, and sells solutions in more than 90 countries.
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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
PRnewswire | May 31, 2023
Virginia Technical Academy, a leading institution for skilled trades education, proudly announces its integration of Interplay Learning's training courses and simulations into its current curriculum. By adopting this innovative technology, the institution aims to enhance hands-on learning experiences for its students to prepare them for careers in the skilled trades.
Virginia Technical Academy, which opened its doors during the onset of the pandemic, recognized the need to adapt and evolve to meet the changing demands of students and the skilled trades industry. The integration of Interplay Learning's robust training solution demonstrates their commitment to bridging the gap between theory and practical application.
"With the adoption of Interplay Learning's online courses and virtual reality simulations, we are taking a giant leap forward in transforming skilled trades education," said David Gillespie, president of Virginia Technical Academy. "Our students will now have access to a realistic and immersive learning environment that will enhance their technical skills and overall confidence. By adding innovative solutions like these in addition to classroom and lab work, we are equipping our students with the tools they need to succeed in their chosen fields."
Interplay Learning's training provides students with interactive and lifelike scenarios to practice hands-on work, such as electrical wiring, HVAC systems troubleshooting, plumbing installations, and more. This cutting-edge technology allows students to gain practical experience and develop critical problem-solving skills in a risk-free environment. The integration of Interplay's expert-led courses and 3D simulations into the existing curriculum will enable students to refine their abilities, boost their efficiency, and accelerate their learning curve.
"We are proud to partner with Virginia Technical Academy as they integrate our online training and simulations into their curriculum," said Doug Donovan, CEO of Interplay Learning."By embracing this technology, the institution is taking significant leaps in advancing skilled trades education. We are excited to be part of their journey, empowering students to experience immersive and realistic hands-on learning."
In support of this groundbreaking initiative, Interplay Learning will provide Quest 2 VR headsets to Virginia Technical Academy as part of a generous donation made possible through Interplay's partnership with Meta. These state-of-the-art devices will empower students to fully immerse themselves in virtual reality simulations, heightening their engagement and maximizing the benefits of this transformative learning experience.
Virginia Technical Academy is committed to delivering the highest quality education to its students, equipping them with the knowledge and skills necessary to excel in the skilled trades industry. By incorporating Interplay Learning's virtual reality simulations and leveraging the power of Meta Quest headsets, the institution continues to set a new standard for hands-on training in Newport News and beyond.
About Interplay Learning:
Austin-based Interplay Learning offers scalable and effective training for the essential skilled trades that helps business leaders, educators and their teams build better companies, better careers and better lives. Interplay Learning's immersive online and VR training platform for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, solar, hospitality, multifamily maintenance and facilities maintenance workforces includes expert-led video courses, hands-on 3D simulations, knowledge checks and custom learning paths to upskill advanced technicians and help new technicians be job-ready in weeks, not years.
About Virginia Technical Academy:
Virginia Technical Academy was founded on the principle that every community needs a skilled and well-educated workforce. Its goal is to provide an environment that will exceed the educational requirements and needs of both future tradespeople and their employers. Virginia Technical Academy is dedicated to keeping our trades strong through education, validation, and professional networking.
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CONTINUING EDUCATION
PRnewswire | May 30, 2023
LINQ, the leading K-12 education business solutions provider, today announced the launch of LINQ Connect, a K-12 education SaaS platform to improve parent-to-school transactions. LINQ Connect is the latest iteration of the widely used TITAN Family Portal platform, adopted by more than 1,500 school districts,16,000 schools, and over 1.2 million parents and guardians across the U.S.
LINQ Connect provides parents and schools with a modernized payment system that eliminates the need to send cash for school lunches, class field trips or additional course materials. The automated payment platform provides a secure method for financial transactions to ensure successful and accurate payments, reduces risks associated with cash transactions and relies less on school finance staff to make daily cash-on-hand deposits.
"Districts are feeling the negative effects of staffing shortages, budget restrictions and school meal debt, so they need a system to easily manage communication and financial transactions with parents and guardians," said Bryan Jones, CEO of LINQ. "LINQ Connect offers a solution that simplifies the management of information and financial transactions throughout the school year for our district partners, easing daily interactions for busy parents and students, and helping schools strengthen their relationships with the communities they serve."
As schools face unprecedented levels of unpaid meal debt, LINQ Connect allows schools to send notifications about low balances or debt to parents and guardians in a discreet and direct manner. Moreover, the platform enables parents and guardians to input food allergy information, review nutritional information for school meals and place spending restrictions on accounts to ensure funds last the intended period of time. The platform can be translated in Armenian, Burmese, Chinese, French, Korean, Spanish, Russian and Vietnamese to ensure all parents and guardians have access to their children's nutrition and play an active role in their educational experience.
"LINQ Connect was designed to ease the burden on parents and school district office staff through easy-to-use technologies that guarantee the information is readily available and accessible for parents and caregivers," said Brandy Keller, Senior Vice President at LINQ. "Now, they can digitally access their children's meal accounts, apply for free or reduced meals, and monitor their nutrition through a single payment system that is secure and convenient and provides parents and caregivers the opportunity to share information with their schools."
Schools that currently use the platform will have access to a library of resources to support communication and engagement with parents and guardians, as well as district toolkits, offered in Spanish and English, to support the adoption of the enhanced platform for new and existing users. For parents, using the new platform is as simple as downloading a new application; their past balances will transfer seamlessly.
About LINQ
LINQ brings a new level of digital transformation and operation efficiency to K-12 leaders across districts and states. Built by a team of K-12 experts, our solutions include Nutrition for districts and states, Education Resource Planning (ERP), Forms & Workflows for districts and Payment portals for Parents and Guardians. Through our first-of-its kind K-12 Business Platform, LINQ is committed to Empowering the Business of K-12.
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